Fabian Schiller kept Mercedes-AMG on top in tonight's Free Practice 2 at Circuit Paul Ricard with a 1m54.624s aboard the #17 GetSpeed entry.
The German ace was 0.216s clear of the closest challenger and will be especially pleased to have shown such strong pace in the same conditions that tomorrow's race will be staged.
Second and third overall went to a pair of Porsches, both entered in the Bronze Cup. For the second session in a row, series newcomer Benjamin Paque was remarkably quick in the #914 Razoon entry. The youngster topped his class by 0.309s, comfortably beating the #97 Rutronik Racing car driven by Ricardo Pera.
Tomasso Mosca was fourth overall in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, followed by the #6 GetSpeed Team BartoneBros Mercedes-AMG in which Aurélien Panis led the Silver Cup. Class rival Comtoyou Racing was sixth overall with its #21 Aston Martin, while Louis Prette topped the Gold Cup at the controls of the #58 Garage 59 McLaren, placing P7 overall.
The session was stopped three times, the first to remove the #18 Comtoyou Racing Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, which came to a halt before Turn 1. Later – and a short distance up the track – the #32 Team WRT BMW stopped with smoke reportedly coming from the front of the car.
Finally, with just a few minutes left on the clock, the #89 Lionspeed GP Porsche hit the barriers in the first sector. Alex Fontana was unharmed, but there was no time to resume. In general, however, the session was clean, with all of the 58 cars entered for the event able to complete a good number of laps.
Qualifying and the six-hour race will both run on Saturday and can be watched live on the GT World YouTube channel. Click here for more information.